The story goes like this!
After I’d returned from seeing Lombardi last week, I emailed Lombardi’s publicists, as Judith kindly suggested (bless her), to request a short interview with her for my high school newspaper. Almost a week went by and I got no response so I began to give up hope. But then Tuesday I suddenly got an email response and after some negotiation I received the following sentence that changed my life:
“Hi Miranda, Judith is happy to meet you at 5:30 tomorrow in the lower lobby.”
Upon receiving this news, I proceeded to flip out, tear up, started shaking in excitement, forgot to breathe, hopped around my room, stuff that happens when you’re in shock and such. I read it a million more times to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. In fact, I keep reading it over and over now because I simply still cannot believe it!
So after getting over the fact that this was going to happen, I prepared my questions, checked that I had about 3 recording devices (lol I was on top of my game, just in case one decided to be stupid, which it did but I WAS PREPARED) and made sure that every one of them was charged.
Fast forward to Wednesday, I took the train into the city and as I came out of the subway station Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance was playing loudly from somewhere so I knew it was good sign that today was going to be possibly the best day ever!
When I finally met her the second time I gave her this big smile which she returned. I was so thrilled she remembered me! She even grasped both my hands at which point my inner self was screaming YAYAYAYAY! Thank heavens I was more in control of myself on the outside this time around though lol
My interview with her was scheduled for 5.30 pm. She was very patient with me as I fumbled around looking for my ipod to record the interview lol I’m such a loser! I think I told her that I hoped I would do a good job interviewing her and she said I’d be great. My reaction = :DDD!!!! Then the interview began. She graciously held the mic close so everything she said would be properly recorded. Is she wonderful or is she wonderful? And I’m never getting rid of my ipod/mic even if they die!
I thanked her first for taking the time to let me have such an opportunity and praised her performance in the play. Then I asked her a range of questions involving her preparation for the role of Marie Lombardi, how she embodied the character, got the regal Jersey accent down perfectly, and what it was like acting on screen and on stage. At that point she had to leave for another interview but she said she’d be back and I gladly told her I’d be waiting for her, all day if I had to! She said she didn’t want me to be late getting home though. It was like having your mother tell you to get home before dark lol I think I’m perfectly justified in calling her ‘mom’ y/y? :D At one point Judith came out of the theatre talking to someone on her Blackberry (lol what? Soooo awesome!) in what I guess was a phone interview. It was too cute :)
When she finally came back we continued with the second part of the interview. I asked her about her activism and about her personal life and work. It was so surreal to be sitting there chatting with her and listening to her speak! Again she was very patient with me and she put so much thought into her answers and you could tell that she was passionate about what she spoke about. She speaks intelligently and it’s obvious that she knows what she’s doing, she knows who she is, she knows what her purpose is in life and she does it so selflessly. It was so wonderful! She really is a joy to listen to! Not to mention her voice is so calm and controlled! I could listen to her speak all day! Oh and she kept using terms of endearments like “honey” and “sweetie” and such. It was so special ♥ I just wanted to go home with her and let her be my mommy lol
Finally as our interview came to a close, I asked her some brief questions about Who’s the Boss?. She thinks Tony and Angela would have gotten married! And she keeps in contact regularly with Tony Danza! When the interview was officially over, I had a few extra five minutes or so in which we chatted normally like friends. I told her as many things as I could and how much she meant to me. And in turn she shared things about her life that I’m sure any fan of hers would have loved to hear. We spoke about her husband Robert too and were saying how he is handsome and cute and Judith replied with, “I KNOW!” haha It was brilliant! And she even said at one point I was pretty outgoing for managing to get her to agree to meet me when I told her that though I was normally really shy, she gives me so much confidence.
I thanked her for reading my letter I had given to her last week, told her it was an honour that she had done so and an even bigger honour that she let me interview her. She said that they don’t often let interviews like this happen since it’s not for a major publication but she told them it wasn’t about where it would be published but that she wanted to do it. That just touched me and made it even more special. Seriously, who in the world gets to have an opportunity like this with their idol? I can proudly say that I was lucky enough to do so! I think she was truly touched when I was saying how inspirational she was to so many people, including me; I think she even got a little teary (she has beautiful brown eyes) from what I could see because I was sitting so close to her. And I felt like I could have asked her so many more questions and interacted with her more because she is so fascinating but I didn’t want to take up all her time and I’d already had more time with her than I ever expected! 33 minutes and 6 seconds! But when you think about it, I spent the better part of the day in the company of Judith! It’s such a blessing!
Finally it was time to say goodbye so I asked her for a final photo. Mine turned out even better this time around!
She wished me a safe trip back to England and I told her I’d be thinking about her and let her continue to inspire me every day. I thanked her again and again for meeting with me and I told her it wouldn’t be the last time we would meet and had some hugs all around! HUGS!!! WITH. JUDITH. LIGHT! I’m going to keep this red sweater forever I swear! And she blew kisses before we departed! OMG! And now I feel like we’re friends of some sort, not only because she knows I exist and who I am, but I think that having shared something so meaningful with her, we have some kind of special bond. It’s something I’ll always be grateful for and I’ll never ever forget it! I hope I made a good impression on her and I hope she remembers this day as fondly as I do and always will ♥Now I just have to transcribe the interview, listening to it over and over (not that I mind) and write my article. Wish me luck!
xx
